Well, far from traditional, "Wanzie's Glittering Star-Studded A Christmas Carol," may be just the thing to spike your eggnog. The conceit of Michael Wanzie's comic adaptation of Charles Dickens' tale is that an all-star cast has been assembled to act the story, most played by female impersonators.

A lot of the humor -- and the show is twistedly funny -- comes from the wildly inappropriate casting: Carol Channing as Scrooge? (Ashton Kutcher cancelled at the last minute, Wanzie explains.) Liza Minnelli (Gidget Galore) as Tiny Tim? Marlee Matlin (Doug Ba'aser, whose fake sign language is a show in itself) as Bob Cratchit?

Perhaps the best choice: Surgery-happy Cher (Miss Sammy), who as the Ghost of Christmas Past gets to belt "If I Could Turn Back Time."

The humor is non-politically correct, of course, especially involving Matlin's deafness, but there's a surprising amount of Dickens' words, giving the story its heart. And the whole shebang wraps up in just more than an hour, before the shtick wears thin.

Dickens may be spinning in his grave, but the Parliament House crowd on a recent Saturday night was rolling in the aisles.See for yourself

A Civil War-period coat worn by a nurse — a woman from a prominent Mathews County family who some believe was the only woman to be commissioned as a captain in the Confederate Army — is among the nominees for Virginia's Top 10 Endangered Artifacts program.

NAVAL STATION NORFOLK — The Navy on Saturday commissioned the USS John Warner, adding a 12th Virginia-class submarine to the fleet and celebrating the legacy of its namesake, the retired senator who was hailed as a statesman.